Google Lens streamlines voice input and tests video search

Abner Li | Oct 3 2024 - 9:00 am PT

According to Google, “Lens queries are now one of the fastest growing query types on Search” with 20 billion visual searches every month. Google Lens is now rolling out the voice and video search capabilities announced at I/O 2024.

Google Lens already lets you take a picture and then add a specific text query if the general results don’t suffice. Voice input for Lens streamlines this process by letting you long-press and speak your question.

Lens captures the frame and prompts you to “Speak now to ask about this image.“ After letting go of the shutter, the transcribed question and image are submitted at the same time to generate the AI Overview.

Google Lens voice input is live globally for English queries.

Video understanding takes this a step further by letting you ask “questions about the moving objects that you see.”

Our systems will make sense of the video and your question together to produce an AI Overview, along with helpful resources from across the web.

Available by joining the “AI Overviews and more” experiment in Search Labs, long-pressing records up to 20 seconds and prompts you to “Speak now to ask about this video.” This is available for English queries in Google Lens on Android and iOS.

Meanwhile, Lens (and Circle to Search) shopping queries that identify a product will now include reviews, pricing, retail availability, current deals, and other key information, as well as “relevant shopping ads.”

We’re rolling out this new experience today for Android and iOS devices in select countries, starting with top holiday shopping categories like toys, electronics and beauty.

Finally, Google says the Lens-adjacent Circle to Search is now available on over 150 million Android devices.